The creation of ICs is an expensive undertaking hence some developers stoop to the contentious practice of reverse engineering. The practice of reverse engineering involves disassembling existing ICs, closely examining them to determine their physical structure, and copying the device, e.g., a design of an IC chip can be reproduced by delayering the metal/via layers. This results in economic loss to companies that have invested in expensive research and development efforts to design the ICs.
A need therefore exists for a methodology to prevent reverse engineering or hacking of ICs.